What is your week like in nursing school?

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Hello! I was recently accepted into the nursing program. Hooray! I'll be taking 5 classes, 2 of which include pharmacology and pathophysiology. I plan to start working on my discipline and habits this summer. I'll start going to bed early and waking up early as well. I'd like to know what your weekly schedule was like in nursing school including what you did outside of nursing classes. Below I have what I plan to have my schedule like. Is it realistic?

Monday-Wednesday attend class from 9AM to 2 PM.

From 2PM to 8 PM study.

From 8PM to 9 PM unwind and do bible study.

From 9 PM to 10 PM go to bed.

I won't have any classes on Thursday so that day would be my unwinding day where I study half the day and do recreational activities the rest of that day.

Friday to Saturday would be the same thing as Monday-Wednesday.

And Sunday would be my Sabbath day and also the day I do my meal preps for the following week.

I also plan on waking up at 5:45 AM at least two days a week to be in the gym by 6 AM. I'd do an hour work out and then get ready for class.

Sorry this is so long. Is this schedule realistic or should I cut back on the unwinding and continue studying for that extra hour or two?

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All I would say is be adaptable. There are going to be weeks that you need more or less time for studying, family, etc. Our program is set up so that we have seven week terms where we have one class. (2 hr classroom, 2 hr seminar, 8 hr clinical.) I normally spend 3-4 hrs a couple days a week sitting down and studying for class, and another 3-4 hrs one night preparing for clinical the next day. This is just a guideline though. This changes week to week.

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My weekly schedule for 2nd semester of nursing school:

Monday: Clinical 6am-12pm (then re-read study material for either OB or Pharm if I had an up coming exam)

Tuesday: OB from 8am-10am / Pharm from 12pm to 4 pm

Wednesday: Alternative clinical weeks for OB (Also study for a weekly med-surge exam)

Thursday: Med surge class from 7am-10am /sims lab component from 10am to 12 pm

I usually would do most of my studying over the weekends. I commonly would olny study for about an hour or two everyday on the weekends.

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Our program is unusual in that we only meet once each semester for each class and spend the rest of the semester studying on our own. We do go to campus to take theory tests and do skills evaluations.

In general, though, I study from 9 to 3 on Mondays and Fridays and then four additional hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Tuesdays - go to the hospital, get info. on pt. (2 hrs.) and then go home and look everything up to prepare for clinical and study if I need to. Wednesdays - clinical = no studying! I work on my paperwork afterwards and make sure I'm in bed by 10. Thursdays - testing/procedures/study the rest of the time, so maybe 12 - 3:30?

I usually spend at least 18 hours studying, but sometimes more.

Here's what our school recommended as to a schedule:

SETTING UP A REALISTIC, WORKABLE WEEKLY SCHEDULE

This will be difficult! You may be taking a co-requisite course (Biology, English, Psychology, etc.). The only fixed nursing time slot in your whole schedule is your lab/clinical day. Follow these steps to set up a realistic, workable schedule:

STEP 1: Use a weekly schedule to plot out the fixed items/commitments in your week (lab/clinical day, overviews for nursing courses, any co-requisite courses such as Biology, English, etc., regular appointments, meals, transportation, work, family time).

STEP 2: Plot out the number of hours required for study for nursing and college courses. A rough estimate might be as follows:

6 theory courses x 3 hours of study = 18

Preparation for clinical = 4

4 credit science x 3 hours of study = 12

To plot out 34 hours of study over the course of the week, divide by 6. (Forget your clinical day. You'll be exhausted!) You could then mark in 5-6 hours a day for study for a rough starting point. Try not to schedule large blocks of study time. Space it out well over the course of each day. If you must schedule 2 or 3-hour study blocks, be sure to plan a short break every hour to maximize efficiency and retention.

STEP 3: Block out some leisure/exercise time. Your health and academic performance will suffer if you do not do this on a regular basis! A fifteen-minute daily walk around the block, with your children or a friend, is a wonderful break!!

STEP 4: Try your schedule out for a few weeks and make adjustments where necessary.

STEP 5: Ask your advisor for help if you are having trouble managing time.

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My semester is almost over, but here it is:

Sunday: No class, but most of my classes did the "flipped classroom" model, meaning that you were required to review the information before class, and the lecture was just a review, so I'd do my Foundations.

Monday: Foundations lecture (7-10), Foundations skills lab (10:30-12:30) - after this I'd usually just relax at home.

Tuesday: Clinical rotation (6:20-2:30). Home and sleep.

Wednesday: Day off - I'd spend my day studying usually for my Thursday classes, running errands, etc.

Thursday: Pathophysiology (8-11), Concepts of Professional Nursing (12-3) - I'd go home and review stuff for Friday

Friday: Health Assessments lecture (7-9), Health Assessments lab (9:15-11:15) - I'd go home and review for the week - anything that needed more information and stuff like that. I did have things due on Saturday and Sunday for different classes, so I'd usually do those Saturday AM. Then I'd start all over again :)

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Specializes in Mental Health.

Ever since the 8 weeks of skills ended it's been pretty easy. If I have a test the next week I'll study a couple hours a day but otherwise... I gotta say first semester has been a lot easier than everyone made it sound.

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I'll second Rionoir's comment that the first semester is eager than I thought. In some ways, this was definitely true. You're learning everything at the most basic, fundamental level, and if you have a good grasp of A&P, this early stuff isn't bad. Once my eight weeks of skills were done and we got into clinicals, the work changed a bit, but the amount didn't change. I finished my last test yesterday and my last day of clinicals is tomorrow, so I feel like I'm on vacation already! ;)

Next semester, though, I know everything will ramp up, so I've enjoyed this honeymoon period!

Stay ahead of your work and on top of everything. Pretend that all due dates are actually a week earlier. You'll be so happy you did.

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